


Practicality

by bandwidthlimit



Series: Leverage Ficlets [20]
Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25416004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bandwidthlimit/pseuds/bandwidthlimit
Summary: Parker gets more questions than answers when she lifts Nate's wallet.
Relationships: Sophie Devereaux/Nathan Ford
Series: Leverage Ficlets [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840567
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Practicality

They did it in a courthouse. Sophie had wanted to do it in a church, but Nate reminded her that he'd already done it in a church and didn't want to repeat the experience. She'd reluctantly agreed, but had negotiated and won a veil in the deal.

She squeezed his hand hard enough he felt concern for his fingers as they stood in front of the officiant, but it was relieved when she let him go to help him pull the veil back for their first real kiss as man and wife (they had been married before, but for a con, and under false names, and it just hadn't been right). Nate insisted on her real name for the marriage license, and a clerk witnessed the document for them, and Nate took a deep breath before he looked at Sophie and asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for quite awhile.

“How do we tell the team?”

In the end, they didn't. Sophie rationalized it, reminding him that really, the only reason they'd bothered to get married was in case one of them was hurt (in a legitimate situation, where there had been no illegal activities – Nate didn't mention how unlikely he thought such an event to be), and the whole thing was just for practicalities sake. It wasn't a real marriage, or anything. They weren't having kids, they weren't moving in together (officially. She'd already taken more than half his closet), and they weren't wearing rings. Well, not on their fingers, anyway.

He had bought a ring for Sophie. Nate hadn't had such a hard time picking out the last ring, but Maggie was an easier woman to please than Sophie. So, in the end, he'd brought her with him, and let her pick it out herself. It was surprisingly simple, for a woman who'd spent her life stealing beautiful things.

It was strung around her neck on a long chain, something she could hide in almost anything. Nate kept his in his wallet.

The whole thing worked, for awhile, until Parker got a hold of his wallet and curled up on the couch next to Hardison. She liked Nate's wallet, because it always had money in it. Usually when she gave it back, it didn't.

This time, she pulled out cards, her nimble fingers picking through and finding every secret the worn leather had to give, including the gold band that had not yet worn an imprint into its surroundings.

“What's this for?” She held it up in the light, turning it in her fingers.

Hardison glanced up at it, shrugged, and turned back to his game, glad it wasn't his wallet, for once. “It's probably from his marriage. You know how he likes old things. Old chess boards, old whiskey. Add old rings to the list, girl.”

“No, this is new.” Parker frowned. “Why does Nate have a new ring?”

Eliot looked up from his book, frowning right back at her. “Why are you still stealing our wallets?”

She hugged the ring and the wallet to her chest, like Eliot was going to get up and take it away. “I need to practice too, you know!” She scrambled up off the couch and held the ring out to Eliot. “Look at this! It's new. It's not dirty, it's not scratched, it's expensive – do you think he could have afforded this ten years ago?”

Eliot took it from her, and his frown deepened. “No way.”

Sophie came in from one of the attached rooms, brushing invisible lint off her shirt. She looked between the three of them, and kept any flicker of recognition off her face as she looked at Eliot. She went to the kitchen for tea, like she did every day, making sure that none of her movements looked forced or shook.

Parker included Sophie in her look around the room and said conspiratorially, “Guys, I think Nate's hiding something from us.”

“When isn't he?” Sophie smiled at her from over the teapot, the expression natural and amused. “He's always hiding something.”

“Something big!” Parker argued, taking the ring back from Eliot and bounding over to the kitchen to push it into Sophie's face. “Look!”

“What are we looking at?” Nate shut the front door behind him, patting at his pockets. “Have you seen my wallet?”

“Dude, that's not all we've seen.” Hardison flashed a white grin at him from the couch, latching onto the drama.

“Did you marry another team?” Parker rounded on him, and Nate half expected her to stick her lip out in a pout.

“No, Parker,” he said patiently, eyes lighting on his wallet, which Parker had left open on the couch. “I didn't marry another team.”

Eliot sighed, snapping his book shut. “Parker, you don't marry teams. You marry people.”

It took her a moment to sort it out, and then she said, “Oh,” flatly, before building up steam again. Before Nate could pick up his wallet, she was in his face with the ring. “Did you marry another person? What about Sophie!”

Nate couldn't keep the amusement out of his face, glancing over at Sophie with a look that said distinctly, 'I told you this would happen.' Parker kept on demanding to know if he'd thought of Sophie's feelings, and how could he marry someone and not tell the rest of them? He placed his hands on her shoulders and sat her down on the couch, and silenced her by saying, “Parker, Sophie is the person I married.”

“We're supposed to be a fam – Sophie?” Parker turned her confusion to the grifter, who smiled gently at her and produced her own ring for evidence. Parker opened her mouth to start again, but Nate cut her short.

“It's nothing to get excited about. Nothing has changed. Sophie and I are married, yes, but it's only an emergency measure. Call it a plan, if you want.”

“Better not be Plan M,” Hardison grumbled, looking more than a little put out.

“The only reason we didn't tell you is because we were trying to avoid a big scene.”

“Like this one,” Eliot joined Sophie in the kitchen, and she touched his arm gently. He instantly began to reach for the tea, then stopped and glared. “Quit it.”

“Do it again,” Parker said, petulant. “We didn't get to see it, do it again.”

“Do what?” Sophie asked, perplexed. She reached for Eliot's arm.

“Not that,” Parker waved her hands exaggeratedly between Sophie and Nate. “The marriage thing. A wedding. Do it again. We deserve to be there. We're a family, right? A team.”

“Right,” Nate tried hard to sound convinced, but he was a little off the mark, and he knew it, judging by the look he was receiving from Parker. “We didn't want a big wedding.”

Sophie interrupted him, disagreeing. “ _ You _ didn't want a big wedding, Mister 'I've done all this before.' I would have loved a big dress and a crowd of people...”

“You were the one who didn't want to make an announcement! A marriage of practicality, remember?”

“Oh, right, blame it on me, then!”

Hardison sighed, and patted the space next to him in invitation to Parker. “Well, at least now they've got an excuse to fight like a married couple. They already are.”

“Guys,” Parker tried to interrupt, but they continued to argue over her, and she raised her voice a little on the second attempt. “Guys!” With no response, and more bickering, she stood and shouted, “ _ Hey _ ! Listen to me!”

Sophie and Nate fell silent, and Parker's voice took on the controlled edge that usually meant trouble. “We should all have a part in this. We should have been there the first time, but you can start making it up to us by letting us be there for the second one. Sophie should get her dress and Hardison and Eliot should wear suits and Nate, you should shower and not drink and marry Sophie like a lady. You shouldn't have hidden it from us.”

Nate stifled a sigh and pushed his wallet back into his pocket. He shared a glance with Sophie, and his shoulders slumped a little in defeat. He hadn't wanted to do it, but if a spectacle had to be made, “Okay, Parker. You win.”

Sophie swept around the counter and hugged Parker around the shoulders. “Do you want to be a bridesmaid? I have a great dress in mind, and...” Parker shot Hardison a look of terror over her shoulder as Sophie led her away, talking about dresses and flowers.

Eliot is the first to break the silence between them, nodding in the direction Parker and Sophie disappeared. “Think she regrets it yet?”

“Yep.”

“Absolutely.”


End file.
